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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: Bedbugs, international panic and local legends

From decoding the latest international panic about France (on the unlikely subject of bedbugs) to crime in rural France, holiday tips and a local legend, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Inside France: Bedbugs, international panic and local legends
View of the harbour at Marseille. Photo: The Local

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

Punaise!

France appears to be at the centre of an international media storm this week on the unlikely subject of bedbugs – from panic-stricken headlines to endless memes and social media jokes, it seems that the US and UK are very interested in France’s bug problem.

But does France truly have a worse bedbug problem than anywhere else? Evidence for this is rather sketchy – which of course has not stopped politicians and media pundits from getting involved.

Most of the memes have at least been amusing, but the debate has also taken a rather darker turn – a French right-wing media pundit asked if immigrants with “lower standards of hygiene” were to blame for the rise in bedbug reports, while foreign media have implied that it is the French themselves who are dirty and unhygienic.

Time for a factcheck – bedbugs have nothing to do with hygiene and can appear in even the most immaculately clean homes and tourist accommodation. In fact luxury hotels (including those in Paris and Las Vegas) have been the site of recent infestations. 

That’s not to say that bedbugs aren’t a problem – I know several people in Paris who have had an infestation at their apartment, and apart from the inconvenience and horrible itchy bites the biggest problem is the incredible cost of getting an extermination, easily up to €600. 

That’s one of the reasons the Paris deputy mayor is calling on the government to create a national bedbug action plan (that’s the guy who said that “no-one is safe” from bedbugs. Or did he?).

Talking France

The Talking France podcast might have a few DIY sounds in the background this week, as I recorded it from my attic deep in rural Charente, but we still managed to have a good chat – crime in rural France, the new protocol for neighbour disputes, why Paris may be tripling its tourist tax and why baguettes taste different these days. Listen here or on the link below. 

Holiday tips

And if you’re after a French holiday tip, I can highly recommend the night train from Paris to Nice. You hop on board in Paris in the evening (bring your own wine and crisps, is my recommendation as there is no buffet car), are lulled to sleep by the rocking of the carriage and then wake up just in time for breakfast in Nice. 

Icon of the week 

You’ll probably remember the video of Irish rugby coach Ronan O’Gara’s team talk in La Rochelle, with its distinctive English/French language blend.

Well, if this flag – spotted at the World Cup – is anything to go by, the talk is well on the way to earning him legend status. Think I’m going to start using this in The Local’s editorial meetings . . .

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

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INSIDE FRANCE

Inside France: French lose the plot, sports stars speak out and Paris prices fall

From the latest on the increasingly crazy French elections to the powers of a president, the influence of sports stars and the lustre of the Olympics, our weekly newsletter Inside France looks at what we have been talking about in France this week.

Inside France: French lose the plot, sports stars speak out and Paris prices fall

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

Losing the plot?

Welcome to another crazy week in French politics – I’m not saying that this election is getting to me, but the other night I dreamed I was having an argument with far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon. I think I need a holiday.

France might need a holiday too – the political discourse is getting increasingly wild, leading to our columnist John Lichfield to declare that the country has “taken leave of its senses”

Latest polling suggests that Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National party would take the biggest vote share at 33 percent, followed by the increasingly fragile leftist coalition Nouveau Front Populaire with 29 percent and then Emmanuel Macron’s centrist group with 22 percent. Those figures would give none of the blocks an overall majority, instead leading to a total parliamentary deadlock.

French election breakdown: All the latest from the campaign trail

Earlier this week ‘Article 16 of the constitution’ was trending on French Twitter; this is the one that lays out the powers afforded to the president versus the prime minister, as people tried to work out what – if any – decisions Macron would be able to take in the final three years of his mandate.

READ ALSO: What does a French prime minister actually do

The satirical magazine Le Canard Enchâiné perhaps sums it up best in its cartoon, showing a man about to shoot himself in the head with a gun labelled ‘Rassemblement National’ and saying “We never tried this before”.

The Canard Enchainé’s cartoon as posted on Instagram

Sports stars engaged

On a more positive note, it’s been nice to see France’s biggest sports stars use their platforms to encourage people to vote, and speaking out against hatred and intolerance and in favour of diversity and inclusion.

I could not disagree more with the Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon, who criticised Kylian Mbappé’s call for people to vote against the far right, saying that footballers should “leave politics to other people”.

The whole point of living in a democracy is that politics belongs to everybody. As Mbappé said: “The Euros are very important in our careers, but first and foremost we are citizens and I don’t think we can be disconnected from the world around us.”

And I admit I’m biased about this – I’ve been a fan ever since I saw him make his professional debut at the age of 18 in my then-hometown of Castres – but I was also pleased to see French rugby legend Antoine Dupont taking a stand on another social issue, appearing on the front cover of LGBTQ magazine Têtu to decry homophobia (although the cover photo did rather make him look like he had forgotten his shades and was squinting into bright sunlight).

Talking France

We of course discuss all the election latest with John Lichfield in the latest episode of the Talking France podcast – and in what was perhaps linked to my need for a holiday we’re also discussing places to visit in France this summer.

Amid warnings of over-tourism we’re taking a look at the places predicted to be most crowded this summer – and suggesting some alternatives. Listen here or on the link below.

Fun and Games

It was thought that people might avoid Paris this summer – but the combination of good deals on the Olympic ticket resale site plus travel and accommodation costs dropping back to seasonal norms has seen a flurry of people booking a last-minute trip to the Games.

Personally I always thought the ‘everyone fleeing the capital’ narrative was a little over-played, but it’s been interesting to see that attempted price-gouging has also largely failed – at the start of the year there were Airbnb listings for frankly insane prices (I saw one that was €7,000 for two weeks), while now costs are largely at the summer average.

Paris travel deals to take advantage of as prices fall ahead of Olympics

Wrestling 

If you’re a Games fan I highly recommend the temporary exhibition at Paris’ Musée de l’histoire de l’immigration (a strong contender for the capital’s best museum, in my opinion) on the history of Olympics and their politics.

It also includes this statue which we’re told depicts ‘wrestling’ at the Olympics in antiquity. If you say so . . .

Photo: The Local

Inside France is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in France that you might not have heard about. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox, by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

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